OPX has been running for over 30 years and in that time we have worked for many organisations across many different sectors – some more controversial than others – including fossil fuel companies and defence. Five years ago, when OPX changed to OPX Studio and I became the sole founder, we started to shift our direction to work with organisations who are making a positive difference to people and the planet. It’s a direction which is fraught with nuance and which has caused many heated discussions. 

As a branding agency our work is to present an organisation in a way that enables them to deliver on their strategy and achieve their goals. The most powerful brands appeal to people on an emotional level, and they do this by tapping into our desires, our values and our fears. 

And here is the challenge: by simultaneously making things more desirable and therefore more disposable, the design industry is guilty of promoting mass consumerism and over-production, and obscuring the negative impact of a business.

So given these practices, why do we stay working in this industry? 

Why don’t we just stop?
The answer is not that complex. I believe that in the right hands design can and does make a real and positive difference. But it starts with our clients and who we work with. 

Who would we not work for?
The news that Havas Media has been appointed as Shell’s new media buying agency has caused controversy in the design industry. This announcement came at the same time as Clean Creatives’ release of the third annual F-List report naming the agencies that continue to work with the fossil fuels industry.  

Like ourselves, Havas’s subsidiary – Havas London – is a B Corp which means they have made a commitment to always consider the impact of their decisions on their team, clients, suppliers, community, and the environment. But clearly money talks. The account is worth many millions with Shell spending a reported $240 million on paid media in 2022. The agency's response is predictable: “At Havas, we are invested in supporting companies through their growth and transformation journeys”. 

It’s the ‘working from within to create change’ argument. But it’s a myth that the work we do has the power to fundamentally change what an organisation does and how it behaves. Our work changes the way consumers behave. And all of us working in the design industry need to take this responsibility very seriously. 

When I asked the question ‘Who would you not work for?’ on Linkedin it led to the biggest discussion. 

Is an energy company that is transitioning but continues to invest heavily in fossil fuels, not okay? But a sports brand that dodges its taxes and is implicated in forced labour okay?

We can ‘follow the money’, see where the profits are coming from, then make informed decisions on who we choose to work with. Though even then, our collective delusion rears its head. We want to believe what a business tells us, because we want to do meaningful work. We want our due diligence of potential clients to confirm our hopes, giving us confidence that our work for them will not overstate or overclaim. 

And this bias is dangerous, tempting us into stroking both our clients’ and our own egos by creating purpose statements, marketing campaigns and brands that are really only skin-deep.

Are we lying on purpose? 
Brands do not simply provide products or services – like it or not they are political forces that have significant influence. 

‘Green washing’ and ‘virtue signalling’ is rife and it’s being spurred on by the creative industry. In the world of branding there are many buzzwords. For a long time it was all about ‘authenticity’. Now, it’s ‘purpose’. It’s no longer enough to have a vision – businesses need a purpose that describes how they are a force for good.

But simply having a well-articulated purpose is not enough. It can’t just be a clever line for your annual report or advertising campaign. It requires in-depth scrutiny of your business’s strategy, operations, services, products and supply chain. And, if required, that scrutiny has to result in significant and continual change. Then it’s a purpose. Otherwise, it’s just sloganeering.

So we ask three questions when we start working with a client – then helping them to explore the answers: Why do you exist, beyond the need to make profit? How is that evidenced by business and therefore brand behaviour; and what needs to change? 

Is growth the right target?
But there is a challenge – too often change is not seen as good in itself – it is justified as a means of remaining competitive. 

Yet aligning profit-making, commercial goals and growth targets with the needs of employees, society and the environment is difficult, if not impossible. For many years we’ve told ourselves that profits and purpose can overlap. Indeed, in the business world we have convinced ourselves and our clients that there is significant profit to be made from acting responsibly. But that’s a collective and damaging delusion that maintains the status quo and allows us all to avoid uncomfortable truths. 

This needs to change. To quote Kate Rawworth, author of Doughnut Economics (2017), “today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive. What we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.”  

When working with clients on their brand, we talk about return on their investment. but financial return is only one aspect, investing in a brand can and should provide substantial returns for all stakeholders (think people and planet), not just shareholders pockets. 

Can we change the world?
Design has already changed the world. Now everyone in the design industry has an important role to play in finding, supporting, creating and accelerating better ways of doing things. Systems that are more inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable. As John Maynard Keynes, who in many ways was the founder of our current economic system, said “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from old ones”. 

And design in the right hands can help us do just that. That’s what our mantra ‘Create Great’ is all about. Put simply,  it means defining purpose, listening to people, caring for the planet and producing beautiful work that captivates.

Frances Jackson

Founder

OPX Studio

OPX has been running for over 30 years and in that time we have worked for many organisations across many different sectors – some more controversial than others – including fossil fuel companies and defence. Five years ago, when OPX changed to OPX Studio and I became the sole founder, we started to shift our direction to work with organisations who are making a positive difference to people and the planet. It’s a direction which is fraught with nuance and which has caused many heated discussions. 

As a branding agency our work is to present an organisation in a way that enables them to deliver on their strategy and achieve their goals. The most powerful brands appeal to people on an emotional level, and they do this by tapping into our desires, our values and our fears. 

And here is the challenge: by simultaneously making things more desirable and therefore more disposable, the design industry is guilty of promoting mass consumerism and over-production, and obscuring the negative impact of a business.

So given these practices, why do we stay working in this industry? 

Why don’t we just stop?
The answer is not that complex. I believe that in the right hands design can and does make a real and positive difference. But it starts with our clients and who we work with. 

Who would we not work for?
The news that Havas Media has been appointed as Shell’s new media buying agency has caused controversy in the design industry. This announcement came at the same time as Clean Creatives’ release of the third annual F-List report naming the agencies that continue to work with the fossil fuels industry.  

Like ourselves, Havas’s subsidiary – Havas London – is a B Corp which means they have made a commitment to always consider the impact of their decisions on their team, clients, suppliers, community, and the environment. But clearly money talks. The account is worth many millions with Shell spending a reported $240 million on paid media in 2022. The agency's response is predictable: “At Havas, we are invested in supporting companies through their growth and transformation journeys”. 

It’s the ‘working from within to create change’ argument. But it’s a myth that the work we do has the power to fundamentally change what an organisation does and how it behaves. Our work changes the way consumers behave. And all of us working in the design industry need to take this responsibility very seriously. 

When I asked the question ‘Who would you not work for?’ on Linkedin it led to the biggest discussion. 

Is an energy company that is transitioning but continues to invest heavily in fossil fuels, not okay? But a sports brand that dodges its taxes and is implicated in forced labour okay?

We can ‘follow the money’, see where the profits are coming from, then make informed decisions on who we choose to work with. Though even then, our collective delusion rears its head. We want to believe what a business tells us, because we want to do meaningful work. We want our due diligence of potential clients to confirm our hopes, giving us confidence that our work for them will not overstate or overclaim.

 
And this bias is dangerous, tempting us into stroking both our clients’ and our own egos by creating purpose statements, marketing campaigns and brands that are really only skin-deep.

Are we lying on purpose? 
Brands do not simply provide products or services – like it or not they are political forces that have significant influence. 

‘Green washing’ and ‘virtue signalling’ is rife and it’s being spurred on by the creative industry. In the world of branding there are many buzzwords. For a long time it was all about ‘authenticity’. Now, it’s ‘purpose’. It’s no longer enough to have a vision – businesses need a purpose that describes how they are a force for good.

But simply having a well-articulated purpose is not enough. It can’t just be a clever line for your annual report or advertising campaign. It requires in-depth scrutiny of your business’s strategy, operations, services, products and supply chain. And, if required, that scrutiny has to result in significant and continual change. Then it’s a purpose. Otherwise, it’s just sloganeering.

So we ask three questions when we start working with a client – then helping them to explore the answers: Why do you exist, beyond the need to make profit? How is that evidenced by business and therefore brand behaviour; and what needs to change?

 
Is growth the right target?
But there is a challenge – too often change is not seen as good in itself – it is justified as a means of remaining competitive. 

Yet aligning profit-making, commercial goals and growth targets with the needs of employees, society and the environment is difficult, if not impossible. For many years we’ve told ourselves that profits and purpose can overlap. Indeed, in the business world we have convinced ourselves and our clients that there is significant profit to be made from acting responsibly. But that’s a collective and damaging delusion that maintains the status quo and allows us all to avoid uncomfortable truths. 

This needs to change. To quote Kate Rawworth, author of Doughnut Economics (2017), “today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive. What we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.”  

When working with clients on their brand, we talk about return on their investment. but financial return is only one aspect, investing in a brand can and should provide substantial returns for all stakeholders (think people and planet), not just shareholders pockets. 

Can we change the world?
Design has already changed the world. Now everyone in the design industry has an important role to play in finding, supporting, creating and accelerating better ways of doing things. Systems that are more inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable. As John Maynard Keynes, who in many ways was the founder of our current economic system, said “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from old ones”. 

And design in the right hands can help us do just that. That’s what our mantra ‘Create Great’ is all about. Put simply,  it means defining purpose, listening to people, caring for the planet and producing beautiful work that captivates.
 

Frances Jackson
Founder
OPX Studio
 
 

OPX has been running for over 30 years and in that time we have worked for many organisations across many different sectors – some more controversial than others – including fossil fuel companies and defence. Five years ago, when OPX changed to OPX Studio and I became the sole founder, we started to shift our direction to work with organisations who are making a positive difference to people and the planet. It’s a direction which is fraught with nuance and which has caused many heated discussions. 

As a branding agency our work is to present an organisation in a way that enables them to deliver on their strategy and achieve their goals. The most powerful brands appeal to people on an emotional level, and they do this by tapping into our desires, our values and our fears. 
And here is the challenge: by simultaneously making things more desirable and therefore more disposable, the design industry is guilty of promoting mass consumerism and over-production, and obscuring the negative impact of a business.

So given these practices, why do we stay working in this industry? 

Why don’t we just stop?
The answer is not that complex. I believe that in the right hands design can and does make a real and positive difference. But it starts with our clients and who we work with. 

Who would we not work for?
The news that Havas Media has been appointed as Shell’s new media buying agency has caused controversy in the design industry. This announcement came at the same time as Clean Creatives’ release of the third annual F-List report naming the agencies that continue to work with the fossil fuels industry.  

Like ourselves, Havas’s subsidiary – Havas London – is a B Corp which means they have made a commitment to always consider the impact of their decisions on their team, clients, suppliers, community, and the environment. But clearly money talks. The account is worth many millions with Shell spending a reported $240 million on paid media in 2022. The agency's response is predictable: “At Havas, we are invested in supporting companies through their growth and transformation journeys”. 

It’s the ‘working from within to create change’ argument. But it’s a myth that the work we do has the power to fundamentally change what an organisation does and how it behaves. Our work changes the way consumers behave. And all of us working in the design industry need to take this responsibility very seriously. 

When I asked the question ‘Who would you not work for?’ on Linkedin it led to the biggest discussion. 

Is an energy company that is transitioning but continues to invest heavily in fossil fuels, not okay? But a sports brand that dodges its taxes and is implicated in forced labour okay?

We can ‘follow the money’, see where the profits are coming from, then make informed decisions on who we choose to work with. Though even then, our collective delusion rears its head. We want to believe what a business tells us, because we want to do meaningful work. We want our due diligence of potential clients to confirm our hopes, giving us confidence that our work for them will not overstate or overclaim. 

And this bias is dangerous, tempting us into stroking both our clients’ and our own egos by creating purpose statements, marketing campaigns and brands that are really only skin-deep.

Are we lying on purpose? 
Brands do not simply provide products or services – like it or not they are political forces that have significant influence. 

‘Green washing’ and ‘virtue signalling’ is rife and it’s being spurred on by the creative industry. In the world of branding there are many buzzwords. For a long time it was all about ‘authenticity’. Now, it’s ‘purpose’. It’s no longer enough to have a vision – businesses need a purpose that describes how they are a force for good.

But simply having a well-articulated purpose is not enough. It can’t just be a clever line for your annual report or advertising campaign. It requires in-depth scrutiny of your business’s strategy, operations, services, products and supply chain. And, if required, that scrutiny has to result in significant and continual change. Then it’s a purpose. Otherwise, it’s just sloganeering.

So we ask three questions when we start working with a client – then helping them to explore the answers: Why do you exist, beyond the need to make profit? How is that evidenced by business and therefore brand behaviour; and what needs to change? 

Is growth the right target?
But there is a challenge – too often change is not seen as good in itself – it is justified as a means of remaining competitive. 

Yet aligning profit-making, commercial goals and growth targets with the needs of employees, society and the environment is difficult, if not impossible. For many years we’ve told ourselves that profits and purpose can overlap. Indeed, in the business world we have convinced ourselves and our clients that there is significant profit to be made from acting responsibly. But that’s a collective and damaging delusion that maintains the status quo and allows us all to avoid uncomfortable truths. 

This needs to change. To quote Kate Rawworth, author of Doughnut Economics (2017), “today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive. What we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.”  

When working with clients on their brand, we talk about return on their investment. but financial return is only one aspect, investing in a brand can and should provide substantial returns for all stakeholders (think people and planet), not just shareholders pockets. 

Can we change the world?
Design has already changed the world. Now everyone in the design industry has an important role to play in finding, supporting, creating and accelerating better ways of doing things. Systems that are more inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable. As John Maynard Keynes, who in many ways was the founder of our current economic system, said “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from old ones”. 

And design in the right hands can help us do just that. That’s what our mantra ‘Create Great’ is all about. Put simply,  it means defining purpose, listening to people, caring for the planet and producing beautiful work that captivates.
 

Frances Jackson
Founder
OPX Studio
 
 

OPX has been running for over 30 years and in that time we have worked for many organisations across many different sectors – some more controversial than others – including fossil fuel companies and defence. Five years ago, when OPX changed to OPX Studio and I became the sole founder, we started to shift our direction to work with organisations who are making a positive difference to people and the planet. It’s a direction which is fraught with nuance and which has caused many heated discussions. 

As a branding agency our work is to present an organisation in a way that enables them to deliver on their strategy and achieve their goals. The most powerful brands appeal to people on an emotional level, and they do this by tapping into our desires, our values and our fears. 

And here is the challenge: by simultaneously making things more desirable and therefore more disposable, the design industry is guilty of promoting mass consumerism and over-production, and obscuring the negative impact of a business.

So given these practices, why do we stay working in this industry? 

Why don’t we just stop?
The answer is not that complex. I believe that in the right hands design can and does make a real and positive difference. But it starts with our clients and who we work with. 

Who would we not work for?
The news that Havas Media has been appointed as Shell’s new media buying agency has caused controversy in the design industry. This announcement came at the same time as Clean Creatives’ release of the third annual F-List report naming the agencies that continue to work with the fossil fuels industry.  

Like ourselves, Havas’s subsidiary – Havas London – is a B Corp which means they have made a commitment to always consider the impact of their decisions on their team, clients, suppliers, community, and the environment. But clearly money talks. The account is worth many millions with Shell spending a reported $240 million on paid media in 2022. The agency's response is predictable: “At Havas, we are invested in supporting companies through their growth and transformation journeys”. 

It’s the ‘working from within to create change’ argument. But it’s a myth that the work we do has the power to fundamentally change what an organisation does and how it behaves. Our work changes the way consumers behave. And all of us working in the design industry need to take this responsibility very seriously. 

When I asked the question ‘Who would you not work for?’ on Linkedin it led to the biggest discussion. 

Is an energy company that is transitioning but continues to invest heavily in fossil fuels, not okay? But a sports brand that dodges its taxes and is implicated in forced labour okay?

We can ‘follow the money’, see where the profits are coming from, then make informed decisions on who we choose to work with. Though even then, our collective delusion rears its head. We want to believe what a business tells us, because we want to do meaningful work. We want our due diligence of potential clients to confirm our hopes, giving us confidence that our work for them will not overstate or overclaim. 

And this bias is dangerous, tempting us into stroking both our clients’ and our own egos by creating purpose statements, marketing campaigns and brands that are really only skin-deep.

Are we lying on purpose? 
Brands do not simply provide products or services – like it or not they are political forces that have significant influence. 

‘Green washing’ and ‘virtue signalling’ is rife and it’s being spurred on by the creative industry. In the world of branding there are many buzzwords. For a long time it was all about ‘authenticity’. Now, it’s ‘purpose’. It’s no longer enough to have a vision – businesses need a purpose that describes how they are a force for good.

But simply having a well-articulated purpose is not enough. It can’t just be a clever line for your annual report or advertising campaign. It requires in-depth scrutiny of your business’s strategy, operations, services, products and supply chain. And, if required, that scrutiny has to result in significant and continual change. Then it’s a purpose. Otherwise, it’s just sloganeering.

So we ask three questions when we start working with a client – then helping them to explore the answers: Why do you exist, beyond the need to make profit? How is that evidenced by business and therefore brand behaviour; and what needs to change? 

Is growth the right target?
But there is a challenge – too often change is not seen as good in itself – it is justified as a means of remaining competitive. 

Yet aligning profit-making, commercial goals and growth targets with the needs of employees, society and the environment is difficult, if not impossible. For many years we’ve told ourselves that profits and purpose can overlap. Indeed, in the business world we have convinced ourselves and our clients that there is significant profit to be made from acting responsibly. But that’s a collective and damaging delusion that maintains the status quo and allows us all to avoid uncomfortable truths. 

This needs to change. To quote Kate Rawworth, author of Doughnut Economics (2017), “today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive. What we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.”  

When working with clients on their brand, we talk about return on their investment. but financial return is only one aspect, investing in a brand can and should provide substantial returns for all stakeholders (think people and planet), not just shareholders pockets. 

Can we change the world?
Design has already changed the world. Now everyone in the design industry has an important role to play in finding, supporting, creating and accelerating better ways of doing things. Systems that are more inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable. As John Maynard Keynes, who in many ways was the founder of our current economic system, said “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from old ones”. 

And design in the right hands can help us do just that. That’s what our mantra ‘Create Great’ is all about. Put simply,  it means defining purpose, listening to people, caring for the planet and producing beautiful work that captivates.
 

Frances Jackson
Founder
OPX Studio
 
 

OPX has been running for over 30 years and in that time we have worked for many organisations across many different sectors – some more controversial than others – including fossil fuel companies and defence. Five years ago, when OPX changed to OPX Studio and I became the sole founder, we started to shift our direction to work with organisations who are making a positive difference to people and the planet. It’s a direction which is fraught with nuance and which has caused many heated discussions. 

As a branding agency our work is to present an organisation in a way that enables them to deliver on their strategy and achieve their goals. The most powerful brands appeal to people on an emotional level, and they do this by tapping into our desires, our values and our fears. 

And here is the challenge: by simultaneously making things more desirable and therefore more disposable, the design industry is guilty of promoting mass consumerism and over-production, and obscuring the negative impact of a business.

So given these practices, why do we stay working in this industry? 

Why don’t we just stop?
The answer is not that complex. I believe that in the right hands design can and does make a real and positive difference. But it starts with our clients and who we work with. 

Who would we not work for?
The news that Havas Media has been appointed as Shell’s new media buying agency has caused controversy in the design industry. This announcement came at the same time as Clean Creatives’ release of the third annual F-List report naming the agencies that continue to work with the fossil fuels industry.  

Like ourselves, Havas’s subsidiary – Havas London – is a B Corp which means they have made a commitment to always consider the impact of their decisions on their team, clients, suppliers, community, and the environment. But clearly money talks. The account is worth many millions with Shell spending a reported $240 million on paid media in 2022. The agency's response is predictable: “At Havas, we are invested in supporting companies through their growth and transformation journeys”. 

It’s the ‘working from within to create change’ argument. But it’s a myth that the work we do has the power to fundamentally change what an organisation does and how it behaves. Our work changes the way consumers behave. And all of us working in the design industry need to take this responsibility very seriously. 

When I asked the question ‘Who would you not work for?’ on Linkedin it led to the biggest discussion. 

Is an energy company that is transitioning but continues to invest heavily in fossil fuels, not okay? But a sports brand that dodges its taxes and is implicated in forced labour okay?

We can ‘follow the money’, see where the profits are coming from, then make informed decisions on who we choose to work with. Though even then, our collective delusion rears its head. We want to believe what a business tells us, because we want to do meaningful work. We want our due diligence of potential clients to confirm our hopes, giving us confidence that our work for them will not overstate or overclaim. 

And this bias is dangerous, tempting us into stroking both our clients’ and our own egos by creating purpose statements, marketing campaigns and brands that are really only skin-deep.

Are we lying on purpose? 
Brands do not simply provide products or services – like it or not they are political forces that have significant influence. 

‘Green washing’ and ‘virtue signalling’ is rife and it’s being spurred on by the creative industry. In the world of branding there are many buzzwords. For a long time it was all about ‘authenticity’. Now, it’s ‘purpose’. It’s no longer enough to have a vision – businesses need a purpose that describes how they are a force for good.

But simply having a well-articulated purpose is not enough. It can’t just be a clever line for your annual report or advertising campaign. It requires in-depth scrutiny of your business’s strategy, operations, services, products and supply chain. And, if required, that scrutiny has to result in significant and continual change. Then it’s a purpose. Otherwise, it’s just sloganeering.

So we ask three questions when we start working with a client – then helping them to explore the answers: Why do you exist, beyond the need to make profit? How is that evidenced by business and therefore brand behaviour; and what needs to change? 

Is growth the right target?
But there is a challenge – too often change is not seen as good in itself – it is justified as a means of remaining competitive. 

Yet aligning profit-making, commercial goals and growth targets with the needs of employees, society and the environment is difficult, if not impossible. For many years we’ve told ourselves that profits and purpose can overlap. Indeed, in the business world we have convinced ourselves and our clients that there is significant profit to be made from acting responsibly. But that’s a collective and damaging delusion that maintains the status quo and allows us all to avoid uncomfortable truths. 

This needs to change. To quote Kate Rawworth, author of Doughnut Economics (2017), “today we have economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive. What we need are economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow.”  

When working with clients on their brand, we talk about return on their investment. but financial return is only one aspect, investing in a brand can and should provide substantial returns for all stakeholders (think people and planet), not just shareholders pockets. 

Can we change the world?
Design has already changed the world. Now everyone in the design industry has an important role to play in finding, supporting, creating and accelerating better ways of doing things. Systems that are more inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable. As John Maynard Keynes, who in many ways was the founder of our current economic system, said “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from old ones”. 

And design in the right hands can help us do just that. That’s what our mantra ‘Create Great’ is all about. Put simply,  it means defining purpose, listening to people, caring for the planet and producing beautiful work that captivates.
 

Frances Jackson
Founder
OPX Studio